"Umm...maybe...blue...or purple?"

I looked at Jackson with uncertainty clear in both my reply and my eyes.

We were standing in my room, the one which suffered under my hands two weeks ago.

The room looked nothing like how it was when I first moved into it.

The walk-in closet was empty and so was the washroom. The bedroom was in a similar condition.

White walls, a bare bed, bedside table, and a desk. These were the only possessions inside the room.

Jackson asked me if I had to redecorate the room according to my choice then how would I decorate it.

The question left me completely baffled. Currently, I was supposed to tell him what kind of color or design I wanted on the walls.

"You like purple and blue?"

The sudden question and the voice that absolutely did not belong to Jackson surprised me.

It was Crist who was standing at the door with his hands folded in front of his chest. His eyes were trained on me as he waited for my reply.

I was sure that in the past three hours almost all the Alessandro brothers would have got the wind of what happened in the kitchen during breakfast.

You knew what that implied? It meant that now all of them were far more confident and comfortable in talking to me than they were till the early morning.

For a moment I thought about ignoring him but then my eyes landed on Jackson who too was waiting for my answer.

"...I...I-umm...not favorite maybe but I think they look good. Blue, black, green, red, purple, all of them are great. But I think blue and purple are way much better than the rest." I stopped mumbling as I noticed the smile that was playing on Jackson's lips.

I did not need to turn around to know that the same kind of smile was adorning Crist's face too.

"That's it. She likes dark colors and out of the category of those dark colors blue and purple are her favorite." Jackson said in a tone like he was solving some kind of mystery.

I was about to tell him that just because I thought that blue and purple looked quite good than the rest of the colors, then it did not mean that they were my favorites.

However, before I could even open my mouth. I watched as Crist hurriedly walked over and stood directly next to Jackson.

Not only that but he snatched the notebook and pen from Jackson's hands and started writing something in it.

"What are you doing?" I could not help myself but ask as I looked at him with narrowed eyes.

In reply, he looked at me with a magnificent smile as he said, "I realized that if I want to learn more about my little sister then joining your extra classes with Jackson would be a great idea. And look, I have barely been here for five minutes and I already got to know that blue and purple are your favorite colors. I'm amazing, right?"

I could not help but scoff at the stupid person that was standing in front of me.

I had no idea what was giving me such strength to scoff or frown at the Alessandro brothers since I could barely look directly into their eyes just a week ago.

But here I was, glaring at Crist like he was some sort of psychopath who needed to disappear from the front of my eyes as soon as possible.

Of course, if instead of him it would be either Domenic or Mark, I would have never dared to even breathe soundly.

Scratch that! I could not scoff or frown at Daniel and Simon too. It was probably only Leo and Crist who did not make me feel like they would slaughter me down the moment I did something that was wrong according to them.

"I'm just trying to say that I think blue or maybe purple color would look good on these walls. But...., I never said that they are my favorite colors. Stop overreacting." I finally let out my inner thoughts which clearly took the two boys standing in front of me as idiots.

"Sweetheart, look! You choose only these two colors out of all those hundreds of colors that are present in this world. The fact that they attracted your attention enough for you to choose them as the wall color of your bedroom clearly explains that they have succeeded in getting your attention."

Jackson explained as he looked at me with soft eyes.

His words made my mind to go blank for a few seconds making me hesitate in denying his explanation.

I was pulled out of my jumbled thoughts when I felt cold fingers touching my wrists.

I did not pay any attention to my actions and by the time I did, the deed was already done.

Those cold fingers on my wrist made my mind surround with the dark memories of my past.

The dungeon, the silver chilled wire wrapped tightly around my wrists, so tight that it cut through my flesh and blood was dripping on the dead body of the girl who became the darkest memory of my life.

Crist's cold fingers on my wrists reminded me of that very same night when I was left tied to that pole and in my stupidity, the moment I felt the coldness on my skin I pushed him away with a lot more force than I thought I was even capable of.

My push took him by shock and he stumbled backward. The good thing was that I was not that powerful to cause any physical damage to him.

However, looking at the confused expression on both their faces I knew that I had fucked up.

"I...I'm s-sorry. I-I really a-am. I was...was n-not..." I was so shocked and terrified that I could not even speak properly. My voice was trembling and I could feel my body losing control.

The next thing I knew, a warm embrace engulfed me in a kind of warmth and protection that was completely foreign to me.

"Sssh! It's alright, Em. You did nothing wrong. I'm not angry. Rather, I'm happy to see that my baby sis is far more powerful than she looks. Don't worry, I'm here for you. All of us are..."

I heard Crist softly whispering to me as he patted my head with one of his hands while the other was securely holding me in his arms.

Maybe...just maybe, they were not as bad as I was portraying them.